Chronicles of the Exalted Adventurers
by Amai no Tenshi
Summary: A fanfic based in the world of White Wolf's Tales of Exalted. The fanfic follows the adventures we have in our RPG, only written in story-form. It's amazing what kind of stuff we get ourselves into...
1. The Tales Begin

Author's Notes: This fanfic is a collection of our adventures in White Wolf's RPG game, Tales of Exalted. It is on-going, and will be updated whenever I have time. Reviews are more than welcome.

Disclaimers: Tales of Exalted belongs to White Wolf. This fanfic was not intended to infrindge on their copyrights. The characters in this fanfic are copyrighted to their owners, and I ask you to please refrain from using them for your own purposessed without consent. 

***************************************

Chronicles of the Exalted Adventurers

Notes:  
Onii-sama is an honorific Japanese word meaning "older brother"  
Shiroi is a Japanese word meaning "white"  
Ouji is a Japanese word meaning "prince"; thus Shiroi Ouji's name means "the White Prince"  
Shiro is a form of the Japanese word "shiroi", which means "white"  
Kikyou is a Japanese name.  
Miko is the Japanese word for "priestess"

"Greetings, my brother." Kikyou, the priestess, said, as she walked up onto the top deck of the ship.

"Greetings, Kikyou." Shiroi replied, turning to Kikyou and nodding at her. "I see your wounds from the last battle have healed."

"Indeed they have, Onii-sama." She said, holding her hand over stomach as if remembering a pain once there. "It was quite a fight."  
"Yes, and you took quite a blow." Shiroi said.

Perhaps now I should take time to explain to the reader a bit about this world, in case you are unfamiliar with it. This is a world filled with magic and sorcery. This world is filled with magical beings, as well, and many different magical races live on this world. The Exalted races are some of the most powerful races of all. Lunars, Solars, and Terrestrial were some of the common Exalted. Solars are the most powerful. Because two Exalted races, the Terrestrial and Sidereal, feared Solars, they banded together and wiped the Solars out, claiming that Solars were "evil", so it was their duty. But the Solars could not be wiped out so easily. They were re-incarnated. Solars are not "born", they come from humans who have been chosen to become Solars, whether the human chooses to become a Solar or not. When a human turns Solar, he is blessed with incredible power. Unfortunately, it also means he will be hunted for the rest of his life, for the Terrestrial and Sidereal Exalted realized the Solars were being re-incarnated and now hunt the new Solars. But it's not just the other Exalted that fear and hate the Solars. It's common belief among the world that Solars are "evil", and should be wiped out. So the Solars live in fear, despite their incredible power. They seek out other Solars, but live in secret, rarely ever allowing their true identities to be revealed. 

Now, perhaps, I should tell you about the characters in this tale. Shiroi Ouji is the son of a wealthy Terrestrial Exalted merchant. When his father died, Shiroi inherited much of his wealth. One of the rarer items he inherited was the ship he and his friends now ride on, for it is certainly no ordinary ship. This ship is quite magical, as it actually sails through the land, rather than water. Thus, it is called "The Land Ship". With long, white hair and a solemn expression, Shiroi is a man of few words, but when he talks, what he says is worth hearing. His ship is filled with a large crew, all very loyal to him. His three henchmen, Lafarga, Cid, and Nakama, are always by his side. But on the battlefield, Shiroi is a deadly opponent. Shiroi specializes in throwing shurikans, and he can throw as many as five shurikans within a few seconds. His speed is incredible and his shurikans deadly. Shiroi is Terrestrial Exalted and is only one of the group that is not a Solar.

Kikyou Miko is Shiroi Ouji's younger sister. Kikyou was once Terrestrial, but turned Solar when she was young and was forced to flee from her hometown. Her brother, Shiroi, came with her when she left, and later the two found the other members of their party, Creed and Lebeau. Kikyou has long black hair tied with a piece of cloth, and a kind, gentle face. She gives help wherever she can, and is quite well known for her miraculous healing abilities. In combat, she specializes in archery. Her arrows are deadly, and it's said she can hit a target half a mile away. When against a tough enemy, she uses her magic with her archery to cause the arrow to burst into bright, magical, scorching flames in mid air, before it hits the enemy. The result is quite painful for the enemy. Kikyou is Solar Exalted, and is of the Zenith caste.

Creed is a powerful mage. Little is known about his past except that he was raised in the cursed lands, The Wilds. As well as being a very powerful mage, Creed is also a wise Lore Master. While his melee fighting is limited, his spells can literally wipe out armies. He is best known for his spell "Death of the Obsidian Butterflies", which is a spell that summons a field full of sharp, deadly, obsidian butterflies. These incredibly sharp butterflies cause great destruction to any that are in their path. Woe to those who are caught in the middle of a field of Obsidian Butterflies, for they won't last long. Creed is good at socializing, and is somewhat the unofficial spokesman for the party. Creed has a mentor who lives in Nexus, a powerful mage named Smith, who still teaches Creed new magic sometimes. The journey they are currently on is to travel to Nexus so that Smith could teach Creed a new spell. Creed is a Solar Exalted, and is of the Eclipse caste.

Last of all is the incredible warrior, Lebeau. Big, tall and muscular, with charcoal-black hair and a constant serious, almost mean, look on his face, Lebeau is quite intimidating. And if that wasn't enough, his sword, a Grand Daiklave as it's called, is nearly ten feet long and a foot wide! And oh, with what power and swiftness he swings it. Very little is known of Lebeau's past, but he was no doubt a fighter long before he turned Solar. He usually stays more in the background when it comes to talking or interacting with new people, but he's always the very first to the battle. He uses magic to summon his sword to his hand from another dimension, though it only takes a second or two to summon it, for he would be a very, very suspicious character walking through town with a sword that big. Even without his sword, townsfolk, and even his own men, fear and respect him. Lebeau is a Solar Exalted, and is of the Dawn caste.

"When will we arrive in Nexus, Onii-sama?" Kikyou asked Shiroi.

"Within two weeks." Shiroi replied.

"I see." Kikyou replied. Just then, Creed walked up onto the top deck to join them.

"Greetings, Shiro, Kikyou." Creed said, nodding as he walked up to them.

"Greetings, Creed." they replied.

"Onii-sama says we will arrive within two weeks." Kikyou said.

"That's good to hear." Creed replied.

"Perhaps we should re-supply at a town on the way, do you think? We're running low on supplies." Kikyou said.

"Yes, that would be a good idea. All right, let us stop at the next town to re-supply," Creed said to Shiroi. Because the Land-Ship was magical, only Exalted can make it float by turning its surroundings to liquidy form, changing the land directly under it to water in land. Once it was floating, it also needed a good sailor to sail the ship. Shiroi and his follower Nakama were the only ones with enough skill to sail the Land-Ship, but Shiroi always used his power to keep the Land-Ship activated because Nakama wasn't Exalted and didn't have enough power to keep it activated.

"Very well," Shiroi said. "I shall go take over the sailing for Nakama, now. He's been sailing while I was taking a small break," Shiroi said, nodding to them as he left. They nodded to him, and then went back down below deck.

Kikyou sat down on a black, silk cushion. She looked around at her surroundings. The below decks of her brother's ship were certainly luxurious, with black and white marble floors, and dark green and black cushions lying about to sit on. There were also wooden chairs, for some liked sitting on chairs better than cushions, but she herself thought them hard and thought a soft cushion with which to sit upon the ground was much more pleasurable. She herself would have inherited some of this wealth from her father, had she not dedicated herself to the work of a priestess. She cared not for worldly things, but rather, the smile of a man after you have just healed his deadly wound, or just the feeling you get when you help someone in such a way. Her healing techniques were so incredible that with the touch of her hand she could heal grievous wounds. But this magic touch took a lot out of her, and she only used it when someone was in a dire condition. She could heal normally by bandaging people without using her magic, and this is what she normally did.

Now she closed her eyes in meditation. She relaxed her muscles completely, breathing in and out slowly and letting her mind go completely blank. She sat in this way for several long minutes, in complete meditation. Then she got up and began training in her archery. There were still two weeks before they would reach Nexus, and she planned to get as much training as she could before they got there. 


	2. Cleo, the Dragonblooded War Leader

Notes:  
Onii-sama is an honorific Japanese word meaning "older brother"  
Shiroi is a Japanese word meaning "white"  
Ouji is a Japanese word meaning "prince"; thus Shiroi Ouji's name means "the White Prince"  
Shiro is a form of the Japanese word "shiroi", which means "white"  
Kikyou is a Japanese name.  
Miko is the Japanese word for "priestess"  
Cléopâtre is the French pronunciation of Cleopatra  
-sama is used at the end of a name or title and it automatically makes the word used with it honorific.

After re-supplying at a small village, the Land-Ship and its crew continued on their journey to Nexus. The weeks until they reached Nexus passed slowly for Kikyou. Most of the time she spent either training or meditating.

As Kikyou sat on the green cushion, she let her mind wander. How long had it been since they had promised to save the city of Rathos from their deadly approaching fate? Months, surely. Yet, still the party was unable to save them. The danger Rathos faced was of the cursed lands, the Wilds. Rathos was built too close to the Wilds, and slowly, the creatures of the Wild were beginning to take over the lands nearby. They had already experienced a few attacks on their own city, but thus far had been able to somehow managed to fend off some of the worst attacks. The main danger they faced from the Wilds was a Death Lord who had many regions under his control, and increased his number daily. 

On their last trip to Rathos, the town was at the point where they had practically decided to let the Death Lord reign over them. But, after much discussing and arguing, the party finally convinced the leaders of Rathos not to give in to the Death Lord. The group promised to save them from him. They promised to go kill the Death Lord. But was it really a promise they could keep?

At the time, they thought it was. But now, Kikyou's mind became flooded with doubts. How would they defeat him? How she longed to go to his fortress and face him head-on But, the party had already tried that tactic, and it most certainly hadn't worked. She felt the pain in her side come back, just thinking about their last battle. No, it wasn't possible for them to save Rathos by heading straight into his fortress. Then he would have the advantage, it being his own territory. And then they had thought about the shrines. 

In order for the Death Lord to take over a territory, he must build special shrines in the areas he's taking over. If the shrines are destroyed, he loses control of that area. But there were many shrines, and no doubt they were guarded very well. So, in order for the group to be able to destroy all the shrines, they would need more men in their crew. 

In previous battles, many loyal soldiers had fallen for their sakes'. They were all good men, and the party mourned each one's death. Where once there was 150 good men serving the party on ship, now only 50 remained. That was another reason they were going to Nexus. They hoped that they would find good, strong, loyal men to join their crew. If they could, they hoped to get 350 new men. That was all they could fit on the ship, but hopefully that would be enough to take down the shrines around Rathos and free the city.

Kikyou furrowed her brows in concentration. She just hoped and prayed it wasn't too late by the time they were ready. What if Rathos was already taken over? What if it was too late? She could never forgive herself if she broke her word to save the poor, pleading city. She had given an oath to save the city, and she would, or she would die trying.

***********

"Miko-sama," Kikyou heard one of her personal followers, Fuyu, calling her as she sat meditating. She looked up at him. "We have arrived. Ahead of us lies the city of Nexus."

Kikyou stood up and smiled. "At last!" she thought to herself. She nodded to Fuyu and followed him up to the top deck. In the distance she could see the large, crowded city of Nexus. She turned to her brother Shiroi, who was at the wheel, guiding the ship through the land.

"Will we sail into the harbor as if we were a normal ship, so as not to cause suspicion, as we usually do?" Kikyou said, asking her brother.

"Yes," he replied, glancing at his sister briefly before returning his gaze to the front of the ship. Living as a Solar Exalted was very difficult. The party always tried to bring as little suspicion as possible upon themselves, for fear that they might be discovered as Solar Exalted. That is why, when sailing into a town, they always parked the Land Ship in the ship harbor. If a city saw a ship sailing through the land towards them, it would definitely cause a commotion, and that was the last thing the party wanted. The Land Ship sailed through water just the same as land, anyway.

After docking at the harbor, Kikyou stepped out onto the dock and smiled as she saw all the busy people wandering about, going about their daily lives. Nexus was certainly a thriving city, unlike Rathos. She saw Lebeau, Creed, and Shiroi walking up to her.

"Ok, I will go see my mentor now," Creed said, "Hopefully he will be able to teach me the spell I need to learn. Where will everyone else be going? When will we meet up again? Someone needs to stay with the Land-Ship."

"I plan to look for cooks. I'll take Lafarga with me." Shiroi said.

"Cooks?" Kikyou asked questioningly. Shiroi nodded.

"That's a wonderful idea, Shiro!" Creed said. "Having the crewmen cook for us is terrible. They're soldiers, not cooks! All right Shiro, get some good cooks. We can afford it!"

Lebeau said nothing as he stood there, arms crossed, with a stern look on his face, but he silently nodded his approval to Shiro.

"I shall stay at the ship, as I have nothing important to do," Kikyou said. Creed nodded.

"I will go with Creed." Lebeau said.

"Very good. Then, we shall meet back at the ship tonight?" Creed asked. Everyone nodded their approval. "Very well. Let's go, Lebeau."

"Goodbye! Good luck on learning the spell!" Kikyou said as they turned to leave.

After Shiroi, Lebeau and Creed had left, Kikyou went back to the ship. She sat on the side of the ship, watching the people of Nexus scurrying about on the crowded docks.

***********

Creed walked up to the wooden door and knocked on it. Behind him stood Lebeau, silently watching. Suddenly the door opened, and there stood a short man.

"How may I help you?" the man asked.

"I'm here to see my mentor, Smith." Creed replied.

"I'm sorry, sir, but Master Smith is not home at this time." The man said.

"Oh I see. Well. Tell him Creed is in town, and tell him I'll be staying at the inn." Creed said.

"Which inn, sir?" the man asked. Creed pondered for a second.

"What inn What inn would you recommend?" Creed asked. The man looked a bit startled at his question.

"Well, I " he began.

"What is the nicest, most expensive inn in the city?" Creed asked. "No wait, the _second_ most expensive inn in the city?"

The man paused. "That would probably be the Golden Dragon Inn," he replied.  
"The Golden Dragon Inn, huh? Ok, tell him I'll be there," Creed said. "Can you tell me where I can find this inn?"

After the man gave Creed the directions to the inn and promised he would tell his master that Creed was in town, Creed and Lebeau left.

**************

Certainly the Golden Dragon Inn was a nice Inn. The rooms were large and spacious, and everything was decorated with gold and green coloring. The place was quite beautiful, actually, with all of the rich decorations, but Creed and Lebeau barely noticed. The only reason they had gone to an expensive Inn in the first place was because of all the trouble they had had previously with thieves robbing them of their belongings in the night. Yes, they had had many bad experiences with thieves in inns.

"Well, I'm going down to the tavern below for a drink," Creed said. "You coming, Lebeau?"

Lebeau nodded, "might as well."

Creed and Lebeau walked down the stairs that led from the rooms above to the tavern below. When they got to the bottom, Creed paused and turned to Lebeau.

"Look at that girl there, Lebeau," Creed said to Lebeau, "She looks like a Terrestrial Exalted, don't you think?"

Lebeau looked at the room of people and immediately spotted the one Creed was talking about. The girl was dressed in a full suit of heavy armor, and at her side, hanging from her belt, was a large sword.

"She does look Terrestrial," Lebeau said,

"Hey," Creed said, "maybe we could recruit her for the ship! We could definitely use a Dragon-Blooded."

"We could ask," Lebeau said.

Creed walked up to the girl, who was silently sipping a mug of alcohol. "Good day, m'lady," Creed said to her. She turned around to look at him.

"Greetings, sir," she replied.

"We were looking for soldiers to hire," Creed said, "and we thought you looked like you might be interested. She paused.

"I might be. And who exactly are you?" she asked.

"We are adventurers," he replied.

"Adventurers, huh?" she said.

"Yes, adventurers," Creed replied. "We will, of course, be willing to pay you. But first, we must know: are you Terrestrial Exalted?"

"Yes, I am," she said, getting up from her stool. 

"Ah, I see. And, would you be willing to join our crew?" Creed asked. She paused, pondering for a minute.

"I need no pay," she said, "but I would be willing to join you in your adventures."

"Really?" Creed asked, a bit surprised.

"Yes," she replied. "My name is Cléopâtre."

"Well then, welcome to the group, Cleo pat " he fumbled around, trying to pronounce her name. She smiled.

"It's Cléopâtre," she repeated.

"Umm Well, welcome, Cleo," Creed said. "We'll just call you Cleo."

She smiled widely. "Cleo's fine."

"Oh, and I am Creed. And this is Lebeau," Creed said, motioning towards Lebeau.

"Greetings, Lebeau," Cleo said. Lebeau nodded at her.


	3. The Night Always Brings Trouble

_ Last time on CEA: Creed, Lebeau, and Cleo sat at the bar in the tavern talking. Creed was informing Cleo about the ship, the crew, and their party._

"And the other leaders of your crew are called Shiro and Kikyo?" Cleo asked.

Creed nodded. "Yes. Well, we call him Shiro, but his real name is Shiroi." Creed said.

"Oh, I see." Cleo replied.

"Shiro and Kikyo are brother and sister. Shiro owns the ship." Creed said.

Cleo nodded. "I see," she said. They paused, sipping their drinks.

"So what do you specialize in, Cleo? Are you a warrior? A mage?" Creed asked.

"Hmm, yes, a warrior a little. But really," Cleo said, "I'm very good at speaking to crowds, a great commander in battle, and a trainer of armies. I'm a War Leader."

"A War Leader?" Creed asked, "Well That could come in handy! Yes, I think you'll be a very profitable part of the group."

"Oh, and as you could tell," Creed continued, "we are looking for more men for our ship,"

"More men? How many?" Cleo asked.

"Let's see about 250, I think. Yes, that's right," Creed said, "Because three hundred is the maximum amount of men our ship can hold."

"I see. You do realize that an army inside of Nexus is against the law?" Cleo said.

"Yes, but we don't have to bring them inside Nexus. We can meet them outside." Creed said.

"So how do you plan to hire them?" Cleo asked.

"Well," Creed said, "I'm not sure. I was thinking that perhaps we could put signs around. Oh, and word-of-mouth is always good. I was thinking we could spread the word around."

"How much do you plan to pay?" Cleo asked.

"How much?" Creed asked. He furrowed his brows thoughtfully. "Hmm How much."

She watched him.

"How about a jade a month?" he said. Her eyes widened and she nearly spewed out her drink.

"Are you serious? A jade is a year's wages! It's like 500 gold!" she said, astonished.

"Hmm you're right," he said. "How about half a jade?"

She looked at him curiously. "Just how rich are you? Half a jade a month? And you have to pay this to 250 different men?"

He grinned at her. "We have our ways. And besides, we want good men!" Creed said.

"Very well " Cleo mumbled

***********

Creed and Lebeau lay on their finely furnished beds. They both had their armor lying right next to them, within an arm's reach. They had learned long ago that bad things often happened at night, and it was always for the better if you could get to your sword and armor quickly.

Suddenly, they heard knocking on their door. They both jumped out of their beds by instinct, and looked around the dark room. Another knock on the door, this time louder. Lebeau and Creed raced for their armor and slipped it on as fast as they could. It was amazing what speed they got it on, Lebeau in particular. Lebeau had _much _more armor to put on then Creed, yet he took just as long as Creed to put it on. Meanwhile, there was another knock, this time much harder. Lebeau and Creed stood by the door now. Creed began reciting a spell in his head, silently moving his lips to the words, while Lebeau stood next to the door, sword summoned and drawn, ready to strike. Lebeau and Creed looked at each other and nodded in unison. Lebeau swung the door open, standing ready to strike the intruder.

It was the innkeeper. And a very worried looking innkeeper, when he saw Lebeau standing next to him, ready to strike him down with his massive Daiclaive. The innkeeper cringed back into the hall, frightened. Lebeau lowered his sword and Creed walked up to the innkeeper, surprised.

"What are you _doing_ here?" Creed exclaimed, curious, but slightly annoyed.

"I'm so sorry, Sirs! I'm so sorry I disturbed your slumber!" the innkeeper said, addressing them worriedly.

Creed sighed. "All right, what is it?" Creed said.

"Well, kind sirs," the innkeeper said, "there's a group of men a LARGE group of men, waiting outside."

Creed paused. "And what does this have to do with us?"

"They're asking for you, sir," the innkeeper said.

"Asking for us? Who would " Creed trailed off, "wait, it's not the men, is it? The men we want to hire?" Creed turned to Lebeau. Lebeau shrugged.

"I don't know what they want, sir, but they've been asking for you," the innkeep said. "We told them to go away, but they wouldn't! I had no choice but to wake you."

Creed nodded to the innkeeper, then faced Lebeau again. "It was only this morning that we put up the signs and started spreading the news around! Could they really have already come? And would they really be that impatient?"

"I don't know," said the innkeep, "but I think it would be wise to go out and talk to them." The innkeep said, rubbing his hands together nervously.

Creed nodded. "Right."

**************

Creed, Lebeau, and Cleo, who had been woken up from all the commotion, stood on the large stone doorstep, looking over the people. There had to be at least 300 of them! They were a wild crowd of men, all yelling and making a huge ruckus. The noise they were making was almost deafening. Creed, Lebeau, and Cleo stared in astonishment at the huge crowd.

"_What_ are you _doing_?" Creed yelled out to the crowd, his brows furrowed in disapproval. But his words were lost in all the yelling. He yelled again at them in frustration, but they kept yelling, unable to hear him. 

Cleo stepped up to Creed. "Creed, shall I try to talk to them?" she asked. He turned to her and nodded.

Cleo held her hands out above her head, staring at the crowd. She opened her mouth to speak, and her words boomed across the crowd, her crisp, sweet voice drowning out the noise. Her voice sounded loud and clear, despite the ruckus in the crowd. Creed and Lebeau stared at each other in astonishment, for surely this wasn't natural, it had to have been some sort of magic! 

"Gentlemen!" her loud voice boomed. "Gentleman," she repeated, after the noise had died down a bit. "Why have you come here?"

Voices filled the air, answering her. "For our money!" they cried.

Creed looked at them annoyed. "You're not going to get your money until we hire you! Why have you disturbed us? You think we'll hire you right now?" Creed exclaimed. Some of the men in front caught what he was saying, but the ones in the back couldn't hear him and the crowd started a chant: "We want our money!" 

Creed rolled his eyes and looked at Cleo. She nodded. 

"Why have you disturbed us in the night?" Cleo said, her voice booming over the whole crowd. "The tryout for the positions is at tomorrow, outside the city gates. Don't you remember? Did you not hear?"

The crowd quieted down a bit, and for awhile there was just mumbling. Then suddenly, "We want our money now!" the yelled.

Creed sighed. "I should have known not to promise them all a gold piece just to try out. The thing is, I never expected there to be so many wanting to join! I thought we would have a tough time getting 250 men!" Creed said. He turned to Cleo. "Tell them to go home."

Cleo nodded. She turned back to the crowd. "Go home! Now!" she said, her voice booming. "We will _not_ pay you tonight! Come to the interview tomorrow!"

They paused, no longer yelling. She looked at them again. "Go _home_!" she exclaimed loudly. They paused briefly, then some turned and began walking away, murmuring.

Eventually the whole mob dispersed, walking back to their homes. Creed, Lebeau, the innkeep, and Cleo, all stood on the stone doorstep, silently watching as the men left.

"If we got this many men during the night," Creed said, worriedly, "how many do you think we'll get tomorrow?"

They all paused, thinking in silence.


End file.
